Cooper test

The Cooper test is named after its inventor Kenneth H. Cooper (3) – see references below.

The test consists of a maximal run for a duration of 12 minutes and the distance covered during that timeframe is the final measurement. A 400-meter track should be used whilst testing and
therefore (many) players (an entire team) can participate at the same time.

Setup, orgnization, equipment and data collection

Basically, all players will line up besides each other at the start line on a 400-meter track and start running after a signal as many laps as possible for a duration of 12 minutes.

The only equipment required is a stop-watch (and possibly a whistle to signal start and end of 12 minutes). After the start of the test, coaches need to count the lap for each player. In order to
get the final distance covered for each player, the coach will indicate (with the whistle) the end of the test (and therefore the 12 minutes), players should stop immediately and remain at their
space on the track until the coaches can round up/down the players position to the closest 10 meter mark. The final score for each player will consist of the number of laps added to the meters
(of the incomplete lap), that the players covered during the last lap of the test.

Cooper Test

VO2max calculation

A regression analysis was then used to correlate the distance covered and a true VO2max test on a treadmill (1). The correlation was very high (0.897) showing that the maximal oxygen consumption
in the treadmill test explained ~90% of the performance in the track test (and therefore the distance covered).

To estimate the maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max in ml/kg/min) of individual players, the total distance covered (in meters) need to be subtracted by 505 and furthermore divided by 45.